Islamic Blog dealing with religious and worldly issues faced by the Muslims.

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Tuesday, 6 October 2015

Soul/ Conscious and its Training (2)

In the part (1) we have seen that
conscious is the second name of soul (it means it is the human conscious which moves out of human body, when the human body expires). This universe has been created for trial
of human conscious/ soul. Every event an individual has to face in his/her life
is inherently embedded inhis/her
conscious since before the individual’s birth, and is predetermined; but all
such events are predetermined and embedded in the individual’s conscious on the
basis of events/ stimuli to be faced by the individual in his/her life. It means
that all events embedded inherently in the conscious of an individual may be
shaped by generating certain stimuli/events externally in the life; in other
words, the events/ stimuli generated by an individual externally in her/his
life through effort are what would have been made basis of all events
inherently embedded in the individual’s conscious since before his/her
birth.In short, we can train our conscious/ soul by
generating certain events/stimuli externally in the life so that our
soul/conscious may take right decisions and opt for righteous deeds in response
to such events/ stimuli.

It may please be
appreciated that soul has been declared by Quran as ‘amr e Ilahi’; an amr e
Ilahi is what is created without involvement of human deeds; and ‘Sunnat e
Ilahi’ is what is brought into being through human deeds. As far as creation of
soul/conscious is concerned, it is ‘amr e Ilahi’; but as far as working of
conscious/soul is concerned, it is ‘Sunnat e Ilahi’.

Now we dwell on the
point how human conscious/ soul may be trained so that human conscious may opt
for such choices/ deeds which are based on submission to Allah’s Lordship.

Broadly speaking, human conscious/ soul may
work in three forms. The first is ‘nafs e ammara’- it is such form of
conscious/soul which opts for bad deeds. The second is ‘nafs e luwwama’- it is
such soul’s/ conscious’ form which opts for good deeds. The third is ‘nafs e
mutmaenna’- it is such form of conscious/ soul which becomes fully submissive
to Allah’s Lordship in all worldly matters. In order to elevate human
conscious/ soul from the stage of ‘ammara’ to the stage of ‘mutmaenna’, our
spiritual leaders usually focus on meditation and remembrance (of Allah); these
may be called internal tools to generate such stimuli/ events which may lead
the conscious/soul to adopt righteous deeds. When an individual, through
meditation and Remembrance of Allah starts associating himself with Allah, it
becomes difficult for him to commit a bad deed. But such internal tools of spiritual
training can be employed only if the individual is mentally prepared to go for
such tools. As vast majority shows no interest in employing such internal
tools, these internal tools to train conscious/ soul are not sufficient for the
purpose. External tools in the form of social systems also need to be employed
for the purpose.

As stimuli for
adopting bad deeds may come to an individual’s conscious from all social
elements like laws, traditions, customs, morals, professional ethics and
business practices etc., all these social elements should be designed so as to
lead the human conscious to adopt righteous deeds and total submission to
Allah’s Lordship. That is why Islam assigns individual as well as collective
responsibilities to Muslims to promote such social environment which may enable
an individual’s conscious to take righteous decisions in all fields of social
life. In fact, addressee of every responsibility assigned in Quran- except
those assigned to the person of our Nabi (s.a.w.w)- has been stated in plural
form; this point underlines the fact that every Quranic responsibility has to be fulfilled by the individual as well as the people (for details plz see http://secondriseofislam.blogspot.com/2011/04/aqamat-e-deen.html#links).
The required conducive social environment is created through establishing
relevant social institutions in all fields of social life.

It may be appreciated
that human conscious tends to adopt such deeds which are lesser harmful and
more pleasing and more beneficial for the human. It means if human conscious
opts for a bad deed, he/she would do so because he/she thinks it is lesser harmful to
do it; or it is more pleasure giving; or it is more beneficial to him/her. If
social institutions are created in the way that a bad deed is punished and
snubbed through legal ways, and non-legal ways (i.e. through moral values;
customs; ethics and practices etc.), then bad deeds would no longer remain
lesser harmful, or more pleasing, or more beneficial. In this way these
external tools of spiritual training become as much important as the internal
tools of spiritual training i.e. meditation and remembrance (of Allah). I don’t know what Allama Iqbal (r.a) had in his mind
about concept of spiritual democracy; but spiritual democracy may
be established through employing external and internal tools of spiritual
training as discussed above (continued).